


Differences, Drawn Down

by Cowboy_Sneep_Dip



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Age Difference, Back at it again with the Hinoka rarepairs, Bloodplay, Drinking, F/F, Femslash, Knives, Porn With Plot, Rough Sex, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 02:43:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15985922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip/pseuds/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip
Summary: “You really are too high-strung,” Reina smiled, leaning back and folding her arms across chest.“And do you have any remedies for that?” Hinoka scowled, brushing back her hair and tucking it behind her ears.“I could buy you a drink.”





	Differences, Drawn Down

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all ever think about the similarities between Reina and Hinoka? No? Is it because no one thinks about either of them? Anyway.

_WHAP!_

With a harsh sting and a flash of wood, Hinoka was brought to the ground. She tucked into a roll and spun, bringing herself up in time to right her own weapon and block the follow-up strike. Wood hit wood with an echoing slap.

Her muscles burned. Her sweat-slicked bangs flopped over her eyes. With each movement, her short red hair flared out as she ducked and weaved, balancing offense and defense with calculated skill. She tightened her grip on her weapon – a wooden practice naginata. Her fingers dug into the cloth-wrapped hilt and she swung.

Her opponent blocked with ease and circled her own naginata around, hooking the pole across Hinoka’s. She yanked, prying the weapon from Hinoka’s hands and sending it clattering to the hardwood floor. Without thinking, Hinoka dove, shifting into a slide to snatch her weapon up, swing around, and prepare herself to block.

“Stay focused,” her opponent said, circling around and giving Hinoka space to get up.

Hinoka nodded and brushed her bangs of her eyes. Reina didn’t even sound __winded.__  How was that possible? They had been going at it for more than half an hour, and Hinoka’s muscles felt ready to give. This needed to end, and quickly. Hinoka lunged.

Her opponent was tall, stocky, and lithe. The way she moved was almost like dancing, bouncing on her toes, melding movements together into a seamless twirl of ferocity and grace. Her blue ponytail whirled around her head as she danced across the hardwood floor. Hinoka tried to focus on her movement, tried to trace the moves of her dance. Step. Step-step. Step. Step-step-step.

It was impossible. There was no opening. She was too light on her feet, and she dodged every blow Hinoka sent her way. Reina was on the defensive, dodging and blocking rather than striking back. Hinoka gritted her teeth. She was toying with her.

Their weapons connected and for a second, they leaned against each other, trying to force the other’s weapon back against them. Reina sneered, easily countering the pressure Hinoka applied.

__Enough of this.__  Hinoka swept a foot out to kick Reina’s feet from under her. Reina planted her naginata pole into the floor and Hinoka’s leg connected with it, instead, sending a shockwave of pain up her shin. Reina took the initiative and followed up with another strike, smacking the flat of her weapon against the side of Hinoka’s face.

“Clumsy,” Reina said simply, grasping Hinoka’s wrist and sending her stumbling forward. A sturdy blow struck her lowerback, making Hinoka cry out in pain. Sparks danced across her vision and she tumbled to the floor, utterly spent. Her naginata clattered to a halt next to her.

Muscles burning, leg smarting, back on fire, Hinoka groaned and pressed her forehead into the ground. She lay on her stomach, sprawled out, drenched in sweat, and unquestionably bested.

A soft laugh above and behind her prompted her to open her eyes and flop her head down sideways. “What’s so funny?” she asked, an edge in her voice despite her weariness.

“Oh, nothing,” Reina crouched at her side, resting on her naginata. “The…exuberance of youth.”

“You make it sound like you’re some old codger,” Hinoka said, pushing herself to her knees. “Gods, you really got me good. My back feels like it’s on fire.”

“And it could have been worse, had I not altered my swing at the last moment. Your recklessness again proves your undoing.”

Hinoka pouted. She was right, as usual. Hinoka wiped her brow with her forearm. “Are you even tired?” she asked, attempting to haul herself to her feet and instead opting to flop onto the flat of her back. She hit the floor and moaned, having forgotten the no-doubt sizable welt across her body.

“Yes,” Reina said, “But not nearly so. Think about all the energy you burn with every wasted step. Every lunge, every dodge, every block. If you only move as much as necessary, conserving energy is an easy feat.”

“Only as much as necessary?” Hinoka groaned. “Then what’s with all your spins and twirls?”

“Simple,” Reina got to her feet and reached a hand down to Hinoka, who wearily grasped it and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. “Dodging requires less stamina than blocking. On a floor like this,” she tapped her boot against the hardwood. “You can pivot on the balls of your feet, making yourself both a narrower target and a moving one at that.”

Hinoka nodded and peeled her sweat-sticky vest from her shoulders. The cool air of the dojo felt marvelous on her bare shoulders. “Okay, okay. I get it.”

“At any rate,” Reina said, clapping her on the shoulder. “Excellent work today. I daresay you’ve earned a visit to the baths.”

 

 

Hinoka rolled her head and cracked her neck, wincing as the joints popped. She stretched, lacing her fingers and reaching her hands skyward, waiting for her knuckles to crack. She stretched lightly as she walked towards the baths’ changing room. Her dress was soaked in sweat, as was her mussed hair, and she had no doubt she smelled something awful. It had been an exhausting day – cleaning the stables and tending to the pegasi n the morning, then afternoon training with Reina. And now, her muscles felt tense and sore, and everything hurt. She winced.

Even taking her clothes off hurt. Her hands passed over welts on her back, her legs, her shoulders. __Reina could really learn to take it easy__ , she thought as she unfastened her dress. She slid her boots off and let her dress fall to the floor before gathering up a towel and washcloth and heading into the baths proper.

Dinner time was nearing, meaning the baths would likely be empty – just like Hinoka liked it.

She dipped a cautious toe into the hot water. Nothing beat a soak after a long day of training, and slipping into the bath felt heavenly. She closed her eyes, leaned back, and let the water envelope her.

A knock from behind interrupted her reverie.

“Hello?” she tilted her head back towards the door.

“Just me,” came Reina’s voice, muffled by the screened-off changing area.

Hinoka laughed. “I’m honestly a little surprised you aren’t still out training. Or running laps or something.”

“Please,” Reina chided, rounding the corner to the baths proper, towel draped over her arm. “For all your foolish bravado, you did manage to give me quite the workout. Perhaps we’ll make a decent spearfighter of you yet.”

Hinoka scoffed and shook droplets of water out of her hair, shifting to face her companion. “No need to mock me.”

“I’m serious,” Reina smiled softly, her lifting brow creasing the jagged scar across her nose. “You’ve the body of a fighter, that much is certain.” She grinned playfully. “Perhaps it is just the mind that needs honing.”

Hinoka gave a fake sneer, then her face softened as she watched Reina make her way into the water. Even now, even simply walking across the slick stone floor, she moved with a grace and fluidity that seemed forever out of Hinoka’s grasp. She stepped lightly but confidently, her leg muscles tensing as she lowered herself into the water. She was a thin woman, all muscle and sinew and scars, and Hinoka held no doubts that she didn’t have an ounce of fat on her body. Age and training had hardened her, and it showed - abs taut, arms lithe and muscular. A life of battle was evident, a tapestry of scars woven across her skin in a patchwork of jagged white. The most obvious was her face, the cross-hatched wound visible to any who knew her, but there were some even Hinoka hadn’t noticed. A jagged line drawn across her stomach, from right breast to left hip. What looked to be an old puncture wound in her left shoulder. Legs crisscrossed with small nicks.

It was not that Hinoka’s own body was dissimilar - she had her own litany of mistakes penned across her skin, but she found it hard to believe Reina was even __able__  to be wounded so. She watched with fascination as Reina untied her hair and let the locks of pale blue tumble down her shoulders. She caught Hinoka’s curious look and smiled.

“Something the matter?”

“Uh-” Hinoka blushed, shifting her gaze to the rippling bathwater. “Um…” She coughed. “It’s just…I hope I look as good as you do when I’m your age,” she muttered, hoping her compliment wouldn’t come off as backhanded as it ended up sounding.

Reina smiled and looked at her curiously, her washcloth frozen on her bicep. “Hinoka, just how old do you think I am?”

Hinoka’s face lit up to match her hair, and she slunk lower into the water. “I…w-well, what I mean is…”

Reina chuckled and resumed washing her arms, letting Hinoka stew in her embarrassment. Hinoka slipped under the water up to her nose, wishing she had just kept her damn mouth shut. Now she couldn’t even __look__ at Reina without blushing, meaning she’d miss her chance to - she froze. To what, exactly? Stare at her more? She had already spent all of their sparring session doing just that, and her lack of focus had been her undoing.

Reina chuckled again, a light and musical laugh. “I kid, Hinoka. Here, you look tense. Let me help.”

Hinoka shuffled back, sending ripples of water out from her shifting arms. “N-no, it’s fine, it’s…”

“It the least I can do to pay you back for those welts on your back.” She placed a firm, gentle hand on Hinoka’s shoulder, her lithe fingers tugging at the taut muscles beneath the skin. She guided Hinoka, shifting her to sit in front of her, and lifted her other hand up to Hinoka’s other shoulder. She pressed her fingers into Hinoka’s flesh, and Hinoka let out an automatic moan. She clamped a hand over her mouth, but the rotation of her shoulder made her muscles twinge and she groaned again, this time with pain.

“Oh, dear,” Reina tutted. “Perhaps I worked you a little too hard.”

“N-no,” Hinoka muttered through clenched teeth. “Just…stiff, is all.” She straightened her back as best she could and tried to lean back into Reina’s massage, wincing but biting her tongue as Reina’s delicate fingers kneaded her flesh. She rolled her shoulders, her moans just barely stifled into whimpers.

“Gods, are you always this tense?” Reina danced her fingertips to the base of Hinoka’s neck. “You feel like a coiled spring.”

“It’s…it’s…hah…been a long day.” She squirmed in Reina’s grip.

“I know. I saw you out running laps at the crack of dawn.”

“W-well…ah…hah…” Hinoka pressed her hand to her lips. “S-sorry.”

“Does it hurt?”

Hinoka shook her head and willed herself back to her sentence. “I needed to finish running…ah…b-before my shift in the mess for breakfast.”

“Have you ever considered,” Reina said, an air of smugness in her voice, “that you perhaps work too hard?”

Hinoka shook her head. “I h-have to.”

Reina chuckled, her voice close, uncomfortably so. Close enough that her laugh sent shivers down Hinoka’s spine, moments before Reina’s fingers followed suit. She pressed against Hinoka’s skin, digging her knuckles into the ridges of Hinoka’s spine, working between a patchwork of scars. “And this work ethic is no doubt why your back looks like mine.”

Hinoka clenched her teeth and bit back another moan. “It…it wouldn’t be right, to sit back while…ah…while everyone else is working so hard.” She tensed as Reina’s fingers struck a nerve in her lower back. “Ah!”

“Sorry,” Reina’s voice was soft in her ear and Hinoka tried to ignore the goosebumps forming on her skin. “Should I stop?”

Hinoka considered the question, mulling it over in her mind. Her back still felt terrible, and likely would even into the next day, once the bruises showed up. Her muscles ached and her mind was filled with the scent of bathwater and the sounds of trickling water. Sweat beaded on her skin and she wiped her cheeks. “N-no,” she said quietly. “But I can’t ask you to-”

“Nonsense,” Reina chided, tracing her fingers lower. “As I said.” She cupped Hinoka’s lower back and pressed her thumbs into the dimples below her waist. “I owe you for that…pain you endured earlier.”

Her voice sounded breathy in Hinoka ear, and Hinoka felt a blush creep across her face. It must have been the bathhouse humidity. “W-ell, I certainly can take…ah…a little pain.”

Hinoka slumped backwards, a jolt of electric sparking across her back as Reina struck another nerve. She instinctively lurched back into her lap, freezing with terror as she felt the cool flesh of Reina’s torso pressing into her back. Reina’s hands fell forward, draped over Hinoka’s hips, her fingertips resting on Hinoka’s sides.

And for a moment, Hinoka considered staying like that. Reina’s athletic arms around her, the cool of her chest pressed to Hinoka’s back, the warmth of the breath on her ear. It felt like an eternity, that one second span between contact and separation, and Hinoka stumbled forward, splashing into the bath with all the grace of a floundering swan. She slipped, crashing through the surface and staggering to her feet, sheets of water cascading down her shoulders. She wiped her soaking bangs from her eyes as Reina laughed.

“You really are too high-strung,” Reina smiled, leaning back and folding her arms across her bare chest.

“And do you have any remedies for __that__?” Hinoka scowled, brushing back her hair and tucking it behind her ears.

“I could buy you a drink.”

 

-

 

Hinoka didn’t care much for drinking. Azama had a bad habit of it, and he had, over the course of their working relationship, dragged Setsuna down the same path. And nothing, nothing on the Dawn Dragon’s green earth, was a more dangerous combination than Setsuna and alcohol. Hinoka had practically grown to associate the smell of sake with the motions of untying snares or unwinding spring-traps. As Reina led her through the bustling streets of Shirasagi’s castle town, promising a quiet and out-of-the-way place, she couldn’t help but feel like a terrible mistake was about to be made. So often alcohol was.

It was a cool night, the dark sky above dotted with stars, the streets lit with paper lanterns swaying gently in the breeze. The market plaza was alive with activity, with vendors and late-night performers still running at full speed, with food carts and stalls churning out all sorts of delights for the second-shift crowd, off-duty guards, and pairs of lovers twined in each others’ arms.

In her sleeveless pegasus knight tunic, Hinoka found the cool night air to be marvelous. Her cheeks were still flushed from the humidity of the baths, and her hair was still damp, but the wind ruffled it to just her ideal level of unkempt messiness. She combed a hand through her hair as Reina stopped to allowed a cart to pass.

“So where is this place you mentioned?” Hinoka wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her sore biceps.

“Just a bit farther,” Reina assured her. She was dressed in her uniform as well, the customary kinshi knight uniform’s light gray fabric glowing orange in the lamplight. She had forgone the scalemail breastplate and capelet, letting her shoulders breathe free as well. Hinoka couldn’t help but notice a scar tracing along her shoulder blade and disappearing under the folds of her tunic. The cart passed and they were again on their way, Reina taking her on the broad paved streets and into back alleys that zigzagged back and forth, staircases winding tight around shops and homes. As promised, once they were off the main drag the world seemed to grow quiet - the close-clustered buildings seemed to mute the din of city life, the sounds replaced by muffled conversations and a gentle breeze.

They followed the path of an alley the housed a number of small shops and restaurants; folks sat at counters picking at bowls of noodles, and elegant strings of paper lanterns were draped across the alleyway.

Hinoka had known such places existed, of course - hubs of nightlife dotted Shirasagi’s castle town no matter the time of year, and the crisp air of autumn was perfectly matched by the warmth of lanterns and emanating from grills. She had little cause to come to such places herself - she chose work, she chose training, she chose her duties as a soldier above the frivolities of life as a woman, as all warriors were encouraged to do. Not that it stopped her from spying a few falcon knight uniforms scattered through the crowd.

“Ah,” Reina said at last, triumphantly. “Here we are.” She held open the curtain to a small out-of-the-way establishment and Hinoka ducked to enter.

She coughed as soon as the scent of fried meat and tobacco and liquor hit her lungs. Reina came in next, brushing past Hinoka and taking a seat at the bar, inviting her companion to join her.

“You’ve been to an izakaya, yes?” Reina pulled out a barstool.

“Uh,” Hinoka took a seat and stifled another cough. “N-no, can’t say I have.”

“Well, then you’re missing one of life’s greatest pleasures. Nothing like knocking back a few drinks after a hard day’s work. Barkeep?” Reina lifted her head. “Two beers and an an order of yakitori, please.”

Hinoka drained half her beer in a single strained gulp, drawing laughs from Reina.

“Pace yourself, girl!” Reina chuckled.

“Listen,” Hinoka said, sinking the remainder of her drink. “This is the first time I’ve been out in…” she shook her head. “Gods knows how long. Between Ryoma being gone, and the whole country gearing up for…for an invasion, or whatever…” She waved her empty glass. “I…I needed this, is what I’m saying. Sometimes it’s good to have…you know. A night off.”

Reina smiled and sipped her own drink slowly. “Well said.”

Hinoka smiled back, welcoming a second drink as the bartender brought it. Something about Reina’s smile made her feel…comfortable, maybe. At ease. She __had__ been tense recently, and it wasn’t just about her brother, or the country going to hell over whatever was going on in Nohr. It was something that had been eating away at her, and something she did her best to stuff down and not acknowledge. So to have this…to have, for lack of a better word, someone who kicked her ass into taking a gods-damned __break__  and enjoying herself was nice.

The other woman,too, seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, as she shifted from ordering beers to shots of liquor. They had a sharp, acrid taste that burned as they went down Hinoka’s throat, and her coughs and sputters were met with Reina’s chuckles of glee.

“How do you __do__  that?” Hinoka asked, watching with awe as Reina drained a shot glass, tipped it, and placed it rim-down on the bar.

“Practice, dear. As with all things, practice is the k-” Reina leaned forward to punctuate her life lesson with a gesture, at which point she swayed.

Hinoka laughed. “I knew it! You __are__  drunk!”

“N-” Reina hiccuped and steadied herself on the bar. “No, I’m simply…” she paused to think. “Giving you a chance to catch up.”

“Going easy on me, eh?” Hinoka smirked. “Just like during sparring this afternoon?”

“I wouldn’t say that was going… _ _easy__ ,” Reina corrected. “Perhaps I was toying with you a little bit, though.”

Hinoka laughed and fingered the glass of another drink, though she had lost count of which it was. “Toying with me? And here I am, working my ass off to keep up!”

“With age comes experience,” Reina said simply.

“My ass.”

“Yes, that’ll come with age too, if you keep up your training.”

Hinoka’s face erupted in a pink blush and she turned back to her drink. It was far too hot in the bar all the sudden - the scent of woodsmoke and meat, the haze of alcohol in her cheeks…she shifted in her stool, wishing she could look anywhere but Reina’s body. It made conversation difficult, avoiding eye contact like that, but the incident was forgotten as soon as another order of food arrived. They talked and chatted, laughing at jokes, though Hinoka found herself to be the butt of them more often that she would care to admit.

It was…it was frustrating, almost. She couldn’t keep up with her on the training field, she couldn’t match her __wit__ , she couldn’t…thoughts of the bathhouse sifted into her mind and she buried them in another drink.

She picked at fried chicken skewers and sipped her beer, though she found her thoughts drifting. Reina was telling some story about the new recruits, and one woman’s unsuccessful attempt to mount an unsaddled kinshi, and the chaos that ensued, but the words seemed to slip past Hinoka’s ears. She held her beer to her mouth and stared, her eyes fixed at some point in space between her drink and Reina’s face.

“Oh, dear,” Reina frowned, her eyes softening as she met Hinoka’s gaze. “Are you alright?”

“Hm?” Hinoka said, half-distracted. She set her drink down. “Uh, yeah. You were talking about the, uh…” she waved a hand. “The recruits.”

Reina pursed her lips and sighed. “You’re a lousy liar, Hinoka.”

“Sorry,” Hinoka slumped on the bar. “It’s just…we were having such a good time, and I feel like I just have so much on my mind, y’know?”

“Your brother?” Reina raised an eyebrow.

Hinoka nodded, staring at the fizzling in her glass. “It’s…” She paused, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. “I’m just not good enough. Not as strong as I should be. But to __get__ that strength…” She sat up. “What does it matter if, to __be__ strong, I have to neglect those I care about?”

Reina hummed thoughtfully, taking a cautious sip from her drink. She waited for Hinoka to continue.

“It feels like…It just feels like I don’t know my own family. Ryoma is never home, and Takumi is busy with his own training, and I never have time for Sakura…I want to be strong to protect them. I __need__  to be strong.”

Reina nodded. “It is a heavy burden to bear, especially for one so young as you.”

“But that’s just __it!__ ” Hinoka groaned. “I’m not a kid anymore!” She made a concerted effort to not pound her fist on the table.

Reina frowned. “Hinoka, how long have you been a soldier?”

The question gave Hinoka pause. She searched the bar’s countertop for an answer and took a breath. “Um…seventeen years.”

“Seventeen years? You joined the falcon knights at age seven?”

Hinoka frowned. “Well, n-no. I joined up with the infantry recruits, first. I wasn’t in the falcon knights until I was fifteen.”

“And that whole time, did you see any other children by your side?”

“N-no,” she admitted after a contemplative pause.

“Who are you to say that you aren’t a child anymore? When were you ever?”

Hinoka finished her beer, though it seemed a spiteful action more than a pleasurable one. “I…I couldn’t __afford__  to be one. I had…I had people to protect. People Istill need to protect.”

“But you feel as if you must choose between your country and your family.”

The question startled Hinoka in its elegance. Even now, Reina had gotten right down to the root of the problem. She parted her lips, half-surprised, half unable to conjure a response.

“Y-yeah,” she said at last. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“I know the feeling well.” Reina spoke with an unexpected gravity.

“You’ve…you’ve never talked about your family much,” Hinoka admitted. “May I ask…?”

Reina nodded. “Of course. I was much like you, when I was very young. I was fascinated by the military - the shining silver blades of naginata, the elegance of the carved wood yumi, the __poetry__  of it all. Sprays of crimson in the bright sun, a symphony of pain and despair. It was a fascination that drove my parents to great fits of frustration. I come from a noble family, you see. I was, from a young age, raised to be proper - to be a __lady__ , to be a woman befitting our station. I chose a different life.”

She laughed. “I joined up at an age not dissimilar to yours - it was during peacetime, so the stationmaster allowed me to room in the barracks and spar with the other soldiers. She had not been expecting any need for me to fight.” Her eyes grew dark. “There was a Nohrian invasion two months later. I remember sitting in the infirmary, watching blood seep into my bandages, pretending to listen as my mother cried and my father yelled.”

She pursed her lips and turned to look Hinoka in the eyes. “When I left for Shirasagi, my parents gave me a choice. They said I could serve my country. I could enter the queen’s guard, I could wear the colors of a knight of Hoshido, but if I did, I would never be welcome in their house again.”

Hinoka nodded. Reina’s decision was obvious.

“It was the only path I knew. The only life that felt __right,__ that felt __necessary__. Seeing the destruction wrought by the Nohrian invasion only strengthened my resolve. It was not just my fascination with blood, with service. It was a duty. To protect my country, and my family, even if they rejected me for it.”

The gravity of her words sunk into Hinoka’s quickly-sobering skull. She lifted her head to meet Reina’s gaze. She spoke quietly. “Do you…do you ever wish you had chosen differently?”

Reina shook her head and smiled. “No. There is not a day that goes by that I regret my decision to follow my passion and my calling. I love my parents dearly, and I do miss them, but I made my peace with my decision long ago. This is the path that I have chosen, and I would pick the thrill of battle over a life of politics and nobility squabbles any day.” She curled her lips into a smile, the scars across her face shifting with the motion of her cheeks.“That is not to say that your choice must be the same, or that you are even being presented with the same options. The life of a commoner, even a noble commoner, cannot be compared to that of the crown princess. But…” She rested a hand on Hinoka’s knee. “Just know that you are not alone. As difficult as the choices in your life may be, you do not have to make them alone.”

Hinoka smiled, feeling a weight lifted from her shoulders. Reina’s words had an air of somberness to them, but it was undeniable that the enthusiasm with which she spoke filled Hinoka with confidence and with pride. If she were to be a soldier, if she were to reject her station, at least she would be in good company.

“Besides,” Reina said, her voice lifting to indicate a shift back to a casual tone, “if I hadn’t joined the queen’s guard, I would have never met Mikoto, or Orochi, or any of my dear friends. Or __you__ ,” she said, punctuating this last by slipping her hand from Hinoka’s knee and returning it to her drink. “Life is all about choosing paths, Hinoka. You understand this more than most do, even many __my__  age.”

Hinoka nodded in agreement, reaching for her beer. She missed, her hand clattering against a plate of food and she overcompensated, wobbling on her stool.

Reina laughed and got up. “But enough of that talk. I think some fresh air might do us __both__  some good.” She helped Hinoka off her stool and onto unsteady feet.

 

-

 

“Beautiful night,” Hinoka murmured, leaning perhaps too heavily on Reina’s arm. A filter of alcohol still hung over her head like a hazy cloud, and the narrows side-streets of Shirasagi’s castle town were doing her no favors with their twisting walkways, steep staircases, and mazes of light and color. She kept a tight grip on Reina’s arm, pretending the bare skin against skin wasn’t making her flushed, but the alcohol. Reina’s arm felt sturdy, the muscle beneath the skin a bulwark for Hinoka’s wavering form.

“Indeed. A beautiful night for a fly, I would say, were it not so late.”

Hinoka nodded her agreement, letting her gaze drift skywards. The moon hung in the curtain of deep blue like a shining silver coin. It was still rising, a perfect light against which the silhouettes of Shirasagi Castle stood, its towers jutting high into the sky, scalloped roofs casting strange and elegant shapes against the fullness of the moon.

Beyond it, in the deep dark of the sky, were set the stars, twinkling, each a tiny light high above the bustle of town. In some places, Hinoka recalled, each star was thought to be a spirit of the dead, preserved forever in memory, in a curtain of sparkling jewels. She wondered for a moment if her father was among them. The wind ruffled her hair and brought an autumnal chill to her bare skin.

“Something on your mind?” Reina asked softly.

“Just…looking at the stars. Not often I really take the time to see them.”

Reina hummed, nodding. “We could find somewhere to sit, perhaps. There’s a park near here, I believe. It could give you some time to…recover from those drinks.” She smiled playfully.

“That might be good.”

There was a park nearby, a vast tract of green land, hills rising and falling, dotten with trees and interwoven with walking paths, a garden paradise tucked between the Shirasagi’s shopping district and a residential area. They sat in the grass together on a hillside overlooking the neighborhood, listening to the silence of the wind and the soft rustle of leaves. It was a cool night, growing colder, and Hinoka wished she had worn something with sleeves. She shifted her boot against the grass nervously, her gaze shifting from the houses spread before them to her companion to the stars above.

Her gaze kept falling to Reina, though. Her contemplative look as she gazed at the stars, lost in her own thoughts. She seemed to shine in the moonlight, her pale blue hair an imitation of the night sky above. She shifted closer, until they were shoulder-to-shoulder, staring at the stars together while Hinoka stole quick glances at the woman at her side. Hinoka had lied, of course. It’s not that it __wasn’t__  a beautiful night, but she didn’t want to let it end.

Reina shifted, leaning back, and Hinoka found her gaze lingering on Reina’s face. She truly was beautiful, and so very, very close. Hinoka pressed her fingers into the cool grass, anything to keep them occupied, to stifle her overwhelming desire to __touch__  her, to trace the scars of her cheek and caress that soft, elegant hair. Her alcohol haze mingled with the smell of autumn and the breeze mussing their hair. Wind cuts up the grass between them, chilling Hinoka through the thin fabric of her dress and drawing a shiver from Reina.

Hinoka moved instinctively, unable to stop herself from brushing a finger along Reina’s cheek, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

Reina turned to her, smiling softly. “Something on your mind?”

And Hinoka’s face is so close to hers. Hinoka shifted forward, slightly, almost imperceptibly, and Reina responds in kind, their faces nearly touching, their bowed heads separated by mere inches. Hinoka parts her lips slowly, questioningly, her half-lidded eyes searching for anything but the woman before her. Reina rests a hand on Hinoka’s knee, inviting, questioning. Hinoka shifts her head, almost nuzzling Reina’s cheek, but unwilling to let skin touch skin.

Reina’s lips almost graze Hinoka’s ear by the time she speaks. “Are you going to make me wait all night?”

Reina’s lips were surprisingly soft. Hinoka had no real reference point, having only been with a few of the other girls in the falcon knights, but Reina beat them all. She kissed Hinoka back, parting her lips slightly, slowly, her hand on Hinoka’s knee used to tug her tighter, closer. Hinoka reaches up and cups Reina’s jaw, keeping their faces tight together. Hinoka was hungry, hungry for the taste of Reina’s lips and the feel of her shifting clothes. She pressed Reina back, into the grass, and reached both hands up to grasp her face before diving in for another kiss.

Reina reached around Hinoka and pulled her hips against herself, grinding Hinoka’s body against her own as their lips grazed each other, their teeth nipped at each other. Hinoka shifted, pressing a kiss into Reina’s jaw, then her neck, then back to her lips. Reina lifted her hands to cradle Hinoka’s head, kneading her fingers through Hinoka’s wild tangles of blood-red hair. When they finally broke, they were both panting, gasping for breath, flushed faces hot against the cold evening breeze.

Hinoka sat up, realizing she had mounted Reina, and caught her breath before speaking.

“W-we should probably…” Hinoka’s sentence trailed off, her eyes lost in Reina’s.

“You could invite me to your room.”

Hinoka nodded, dazed.

-

 

Hinoka had scarcely locked the door before Reina was on her, her muscular arms tight around Hinoka’s stomach, her chest pressed against Hinoka’s back, her teeth in Hinoka’s neck. Hinoka let out a groan and pushed backwards, trying to spin in Reina’s grip. She was stronger than Hinoka had anticipated and kept her arms clamped. Hinoka reached a hand back and tangled her fingers in Reina’s hair.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” Reina muttered, sinking another bite into Hinoka’s skin.

“M-must __everything__  be training with you?” Hinoka moaned, feigning annoyance. Understanding the objective of the game, she spun again, this time using proper leverage to dislodge herself from Reina’s grip. She used her momentum to tackle Reina to her futon bed, pressing her lips against hers and pinning her down.

Reina parted her lips receptively, for a moment allowing Hinoka her moment of victory before slipping her tongue into Hinoka’s mouth. Using Hinoka’s moment of startled weakness, she turned the tables, pushing Hinoka off her and mounting her instead. Rather than kiss her, she took another route, grasping the fabric of Hinoka’s dress and tugging. The snaps fastening the dress down the sides popped open as Reina ripped it open, exposing Hinoka’s bare skin and undergarments. Hinoka lay on the flat of her back, chest heaving, her attired reduced to her bra, her boyshorts, and the garters keeping her boots up. She stared at Reina and pouted.

“N-no fair,” she panted.

“You have to earn it,” Reina smirked, dropping her head and sinking her teeth into Hinoka’s breast. Hinoka let out a moan and clutched her head to her chest, kneading her fingers through her hair, trying to work her way down to the neck of Reina’s dress. Reina slipped a hand lower, pressing it against Hinoka’s stomach, trailing her fingers towards the hem of her underwear.

Hinoka opened her mouth, unsure if she had meant to protest or moan, but the latter won out. With Reina’s hand distracted, Hinoka took the opportunity to reach behind her back and unclasp her bra, letting it fall to her waist.

“In a hurry?” Reina teased, tracing a finger along Hinoka’s garterbelt. She knelt on the tatami floor, kissed Hinoka’s navel, then trailed her lips lower, running her tongue along her waistband. Hinoka let out a moan and reached one hand down to grasp Reina’s hair.

“P-please,” she muttered, her free hand clamped over her mouth to stifle her moans.

Reina’s smug smile was enough for Hinoka to capitalize on. She leapt to a sitting position and tackled Reina again, this time grasping the hem of her dress and tugging it over her head. Their mutual years wearing the same uniform proved good for __something__ , it seemed. Hinoka got to her feet, topless, breathless, and quickly tugging Reina up to join her.

The older woman was taller, but only just, and Hinoka found herself again kissing her, nuzzling her face against Reina’s. She dropped her hands to Reina’s waist and wrapped around her, grasping her ass and tugging her tighter. The fabric of her underwear was study but already damp with anticipation.

“Go on,” Reina muttered into Hinoka’s neck, followed by a nip of teeth. “Claim your victory.”

Hinoka kissed her, deeply and passionately, the game on pause for a single second of blissful peace before Reina wrestled her back down to the low bed. She pinned Hinoka down and took action, unsnapping the fastens of Hinoka’s garterbelt and tugging her shorts down, exposing her at long last. Hinoka whimpered, a flush across her face as Reina’s fingers traced down through her hair and settled on her slick, waiting folds.

She whined, but Reina’s teasing strengthened her resolve and she followed suit, opting to simply tear Reina’s clothing, the thin fabric parting easily at the seams.

“Now, now, that was a little rude, wasn’t it?” Reina frowned, pulling the remnants of fabric off her waist.

“W-well I guess you’ll just have to punish me,” Hinoka lay on the futon, propped up on her elbows, staring at the half-naked woman before her. She squirmed in Reina’s grip, trying to grind against her, seeking any amount of friction, any place to latch on to grind pleasure into her body. Reina mounted her, dropping a knee between Hinoka’s legs, letting her derive what pleasure she could from it. Hinoka whimpered.

“F-fuck,” she moaned, reaching down to touch herself.

Reina pinned Hinoka to the bed and held her leg up. She shifted forward, and Hinoka let out a sharp gasp as their wet cores connected. Reina holding her leg up hurt - her soreness from the day hadn’t quite been worked out yet, but it was lost in a wave of pleasure as Reina ground against her, her own breath growing heavy and ragged. Hinoka kept pace, trying to match the motion of her legs.

Reina groaned, closing her eyes and reveling in her victory, and Hinoka took the offensive, sliding backwards and grasping Reina’s hips. She dropped her head between her legs and buried her lips in Reina’s hair. She was slick, wet with some combination of Hinoka’s and her own arousal, and Hinoka lapped it up, dropping lower and pressing her tongue against her clit. Reina let out a groan that invigorated Hinoka, and she spread her legs wider. From her position between her legs, Hinoka looked up, trying to see Reina’s face with pleasure scrawled across it. Her eyes half-lidded, her lips parted to let out groans of encouragement.

Hinoka couldn’t resist the urge to kiss her, slipping her tongue into Reina’s mouth, letting her lap at her own taste on Hinoka’s lips.

“Enough of this,” Reina muttered sharply, pressing Hinoka back into the mattress and pinning her. She fumbled in the folds of her dress and Hinoka’s eyes widened. Reina pressed a short silver knife against Hinoka’s neck.

“R-Reina, w-” Hinoka’s breathless desire was quickly shifting to anxiety.

“Shh,” Reina hushed her, kissing her softly, tracing her tongue along Hinoka’s jawline. “Just a little…something added to our game.”

“B-but…”

Reina pressed the blade lightly against Hinoka’s skin and drew a thin line of blood. She mounted Hinoka and kissed her, her fingers drawing swirls of blood on Hinoka’s chest.

“Reina…” Hinoka gulped.

“Are you afraid?” Reina asked, licking up her blood.

The question surprised Hinoka. She had feared nothing, not for a long time, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. “N-no,” she said defiantly.

“Do you want me to stop?”

“J-just…be careful, okay?”

Reina drew another thin line of blood, the blade barely breaking the skin, so light that Hinoka could only just feel it. But it seemed to fill Reina with lust, and whether it was for her or her blood Hinoka wasn’t sure. It frightened her and excited her in equal measure, and watching Reina smear her blood across her chest was undeniably intoxicating.

Reina kissed her chest again, pressing her lips to a thin wound, drinking the thin line of blood that seeped out. Her free hand slipped between Hinoka’s legs, one long finger pressing inside of her.

Hinoka groaned, rolling back and forth on her finger, staring at the blood, and Reina’s lithe body, and her scars, and her hair, and she groaned again. Reina slipped a second finger inside, a remarkable feat for someone so preoccupied with Hinoka’s chest.

“Hah…hah…” Hinoka tried speaking, but all that came out were moans. “Y-you…hah…”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Reina remarked, her eyes fixed on Hinoka’s bloody chest. “To mingle with another so completely, so intimately.” She drew a line across her own chest and Hinoka stared at her blood, watching it mingle with her skin already so marked with scars.

“W-will it s-scar?” Hinoka asked, breathless.

“No,” Reina said, her voice tinged with disappointment. “It’s no more than a papercut.” She dropped the knife and tugged Hinoka into a tender embrace, pressing their chests together. She kissed Hinoka on the lips, tenderly, deeply, and at last withdrew her fingers from Hinoka, drawing a disappointed shudder.

Hinoka leaned forward and kissed Reina’s breast, then followed her example, tracing her fingers through the blood, licking it clear. It tasted copper, and her skin tasted of sweat, and Hinoka’s head spun with blood and alcohol and sex, and firm muscular arms wrapped around her, pressing her lightly into the mattress.

“F-fuck me,” Hinoka groaned, spreading her legs and reaching her hands up to grasp her own breasts, squeezing them and letting her fingers trace lazy circles around her nipples. Reina obliged, lifting Hinoka’s leg again, with someone more tenderness this time, and pressing their bodies together. Hinoka let out another moan and stared at the woman between her legs, watching her muscular abdomen, her tensing arms, the ecstasy written across her scarred features.

“D-don’t s-stop,” Hinoka muttered, pushing against Reina, grinding against her for every second of friction she could manage. It was like sparks were dancing across her, or fire spreading through her belly. She brought one hand to her mouth to muffle her moans, but Reina swiped it away.

“L-let me hear your cries,” Reina muttered, dropping her hand to knead Hinoka’s breast. Hinoka obliged, crying out, her voice raising in a crescendo of breathy, pleasures groans. Hinoka felt herself getting closer, pressure building within her, and she returned Reina’s motions with all the vigor she could manage. As she crested the peak she let out a last cry before her voice dissolved into whimpers and gasped breaths.

Reina crawled up beside her in bed, tugging her into a gentle embrace, letting her collapse into her arms.

It had been a long day - between training, sparring, drinking, and now… _ _this__ , Hinoka wanted nothing more than to curl up in Reina’s strong, comforting arms. She closed her eyes and pressed a chaste kiss against Reina’s neck.

“When you mentioned unwinding, I have to say this wasn’t quite what I had in mind,” Hinoka mumbled.

“Mm,” Reina nodded in agreement, a hum resonating in her chest. “I take it you have no complaints?”

Hinoka laughed and kissed her again. “Intense on and off the battlefield. I like it.”

Reina chuckled. “I’m out of practice.”

“Out of practice?!” Hinoka sat upright. “Then what in gods’ names would you being __in__ practice be?”

“If you can beat me at sparring, maybe you can find out.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you like my writing, you can commission me! You can contact me at cowboysneep@gmail.com or shoot me a DM at lucisevofficial.tumblr.com to discuss.


End file.
